Cole to become chair of firm that merged with Canadian consultant Genivar in August 2012

Chris Cole, WSP chief executive

Chris Cole is to become chair of consultant WSP and give up his executive role, the firm has announced.

Cole was made executive chairman when the firm merged with Canadian consultant Genivar in August 2012.

He will now become a non-executive chair of the 15,000-strong firm from 1 July 2013.

Genivar president Pierre Shoiry will continue as head of the merged business.

The firm said the integration of the two businesses was “progressing as planned”. In April Genivar announced it was set to rebrand itself as WSP from 1 January 2014.